Timothy Wilson

I was reading an article today about a famous women tennis player Justine Henin who retired from the game of tennis at the ripe old age of 25. I’m sure there are a number of us who wish we could have retired at such an early age. I don’t think Ms. Henin will have to worry too much about money as she has won seven Grand Slams. She’s getting out at the top of her game and leaving for own her reasons. As she indicated, she lacked the confidence to continue playing. So instead of fooling herself that she could compete she decided to leave the game on a high note. Good for her.

As consultants, we can learn from this example. How many times have we advise clients to keep working with an employee who is not performing, advising them to have the employee identify their strengths and weakness and to work the weaknesses. Perhaps you’ve suggested coaching for the individual, believing that this direct attention will help solve the non-performance problem. Maybe you’ve used some form of assessment tool to determine work styles or observable behavior. You might have recommended one or several of these but at the end of the day the fact remains the same. The employee is still not performing at an acceptable level for the group.

With all our data, knowledge and supposedly wisdom, we might have missed asking our client one simple question, does the employee still love the work they do? We need to consider that just maybe; the employee has lost interest in what they do. There’s nothing left for them to accomplish in job, the challenge no longer exists, and they are just going through the motions. And their current behavior is becoming disruptive to the company.

Too many mangers stay in jobs they don’t like for far too long to their determent and to the determent of those around them. Their lack of performance is a drag on them and the rest of the management team, and the longer it goes on the deeper the resentment grows toward the individual to the point the team starts wondering why they don’t quit or the senior manager doesn’t just fire them.

As consultant/coaches, we end up coaching these individuals with minimal effect. Instead of coaching perhaps, we should ask both parties if it wouldn’t be better for all if the non-performer left at the top of their game. In other words, just quit. Help both managers work out a severance package to the benefit of the employee whose heart is no longer in the game and the manager that would end up firing him in the long run, if performance didn’t improve. As consultants/coaches, we need to understand that not everyone is fixable. At times providing a means for a graceful exit is a better solution for all and allows us to provide value to our clients.

Ms. Henin left a profession she loved because she realized she could no longer motive herself to play at a competitive level and this lack of motivation impacted her game to the point she was losing matches she should have won. So she did what was right for her, she quit. It shocked a number of people who knew her and the type of competitor she was, but when they heard her reasons, for leaving they understood. Guess what, it works in the business world to.